Don’t Just Go Through The Motions

Many students tell me that their goal is to check off everything on their to do list from their bar company every day. I’ve written before about how you can’t possibly do everything your bar company assigns, and that’s true. But beyond the feasibility, you shouldn’t be blindly doing everything your bar company assigns because you need to do what makes the most sense for you. That will inevitably mean tweaking your to do list.

Your goal should be learning, not just blindly doing. That means that it is more important to be thoughtful and reflective about each task, than it is to complete them. There is no point to doing 50 MBE questions if you don’t have time to review them. Doing that doesn’t help you get similar questions right in the future. It’s the review, and the incorporation of rules and tips into your study materials, that ensures that your practice is useful.

The same is true for essays. Don’t just blindly do essays closed book and move on. Issue spot closed book, certainly, but if you don’t know the rule, look it up. It’s more important for you to review, apply, and then remember the correct rule, than it is to do an essay closed book because your bar company tells you to.